TRANSLATE

Welcome to Our Parkinson's Place

I copy news articles pertaining to research, news and information for Parkinson's disease, Dementia, the Brain, Depression and Parkinson's with Dystonia. I also post about Fundraising for Parkinson's disease and events. I try to be up-to-date as possible. I have Parkinson's diseases as well and thought it would be nice to have a place where updated news is in one place. That is why I began this blog.

I am not responsible for it's contents, I am just a copier of information searched on the computer. Please understand the copies are just that, copies and at times, I am unable to enlarge the wording or keep it uniformed as I wish. This is for you to read and to always keep an open mind.

Please discuss this with your doctor, should you have any questions, or concerns. Never do anything without talking to your doctor. I do not make any money from this website. I volunteer my time to help all of us to be informed. Please no advertisers. This is a free site for all.

Thank you.

Monday, April 10, 2017

Reprogrammed Glia Improve Symptoms in a Mouse Model of Parkinson’s

April 10, 2017 By Diana Kwon

By converting glial cells into dopaminergic neurons, scientists were able to partially rescue motor behavior in mice.

Parkinson’s, a neurodegenerative disease that primarily affects the motor system, is marked by a progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the brain. While current treatments are aimed at replenishing dopamine levels, none are able to restore the lost cells. Now, scientists have devised a way to reprogram glial cells into active dopamine neurons that can partially restore motor function in a mouse model of Parkinson’s. This proof-of-principle study could pave the way to a new treatment for the disease, researchers reported today (April 10) in Nature Biotechnology.

“In Parkinson’s disease, dopamine neurons die, but at the same time, because of inflammation . . . some glial cells become reactive and proliferate,” said coauthor Ernest Arenas, a molecular neurobiologist at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. “So we thought that one interesting possibly for reprogramming could be to turn these [glial] cells . . . into the cells that are missing in the disease.”

Arenas and colleagues first tested this technique in vitro, by infecting human astrocytes—star-shape glial cells that are abundant in the brain—with viruses containing three transcription factors involved in neuronal identity and growth, a dopaminergic neuron-specific microRNA, and several small molecules that promote chromatin remodeling and aid brain development.

The researchers were able to successfully transform up to 16 percent of human astrocytes into dopaminergic neurons that were capable of firing action potentials in vitro. “We were really amazed by the physiological properties of the cells,” Arenas told The Scientist. “The reprogrammed cells had fantastic electrophysiology that is difficult to get in stem cell–derived cells.”

When the team applied this protocol to a mouse model of Parkinson’s (in which dopaminergic neurons in the striatum are killed by a toxin), the rodents displayed improved motor behavior and gait control. “The major achievement of this study is that, for the very first time, they show a behavioral effect achieved by reprogrammed neurons,” Magdalena Götz, a neuroscientist at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich in Germany who was not involved with this study, told The Scientist. While many groups have converted various glial cells into neurons both in vitro and in vivo, she added, none had reported a corresponding change in behavior, until now.

“Generating in vivo dopaminergic neurons is an excellent way to replace the current L-dopa approach [to treating Parkinson’s],” said Gong Chen, a life sciences professor at Pennsylvania State University who was not involved in the work. L-dopa, or Levodopa, is a dopamine precursor that is commonly prescribed to treat the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. “By regenerating dopaminergic neurons locally, you can greatly reduce the desensitization of dopamine receptors all over the brain,” Chen added. However, he pointed out that the reprogramming efficiency in the current study was relatively low. In a recent study, Chen’s group was able to reprogram up to 90 percent of astrocytes in mouse cortices in vivo.

Arenas acknowledged that because his team’s method is still an early prototype, there is still significant room for progress. “Our first focus will be to improve the reprogramming efficiency,” he said. He also noted that the group currently requires transgenic mice to selectively express the injected genes in astrocytes. In order to make this technique feasible for human testing, the team plans to explore ways to allow the virus to specifically target glial cells without a genetically modified host.

Over the last decade, glial reprogramming has piqued the interest of many researchers who see it as a promising method to treat neurodegenerative disease and brain injury by replenishing lost neurons. “During the last 10 to 15 years, this field moved incredibly fast from a strange approach to a fairly accepted approach attracting many researchers,” said Götz, who was one of the first to successfully convert glia into neurons in vitro.

“I predict that this is going to be the next frontier in regenerative medicine—we don’t need to inject any external stem cells anymore, we can just use internal glial cells,” Chen said. “I think this field will continue to thrive.”

I
just began writing Poetry for my newest blog: "P0ETRY:LIVING LIFE TO THE FULLEST
WITH PARKINSON'S DISEASE." It is mostly upbeat and sometimes funny. I hope you enjoy it.

I am a wife, mother and grandmother. I was diagnosed in 2004 by a Neurologist and a Neurologist- Movement
Specialist. Going back through my medical records, I had tremors since 1987. I
have dystonia of the feet and calves as well. In 2004, I had a major stroke and
was paralyzed on my left side. It took a year of Physical Therapy to regain 99%
back.

I feel strongly about
spreading the word about Parkinson's Disease as we travel throughout parts of
the United States. My husband Larry, married on August 2, 1966 to my best
friend.been married for 50 plus years. In 1967 he joined the Marine Corps as an enlisted Marine , then became a warrant officer 4 Selective and retired as a Capt serving over 22 years. ( A Mustang). I am fortunate to have the support of my family and friends. I also have a maltese named Spencer who is my Service dog.God has
truly blessed me and I am thankful. Parkinson's Awareness is important to
me. I continue to exercise, meditate and thank the Lord for each day. God Bless our military and their families. God Bless the USA. Semper Fi !

Medical Disclaimer

Medical Disclaimer

No advice

http://ourparkinsonsplace.blogspot.com contains general information about medical conditions and treatments. The information is not advice, and should not be treated as such. I have copied from organizations the information. This is put together strictly to read and you to talk to your medical doctor about. I search on the internet and copy and share the information on my site. IT IS IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND I AM A PERSON WITH PARKINSON'S DISEASE. I HAVE NO MEDICAL EDUCATION, I JUST WANT TO SHARE WITH YOU WHAT I READ ON THE INTERNET. IT IS UP TO YOU TO DECIDE WHETHER TO READ IT AND TALK IT OVER WITH YOUR DOCTOR. I AM JUST THE COPIER OF DOCUMENTS FROM THE COMPUTER. I DO NOT HAVE PROOF OF FACT OR FICTION OF THE INFORMATION.

as an alternative to medical advice from your doctor or other professional healthcare providers. If you have any specific questions about any medical matter you should consult your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. If you think you may be suffering from any medical condition you should seek immediate medical attention. You should never delay seeking medical advice, disregard medical advice, or discontinue medical treatment because of information on http://ourparkinsonsplace.blogspot.com

Limiting our liability

You agree not to hold us liable for any damages arising from or relating to your reliance on any of the medical information provided onAdditionally, you agree not to repeat the medical information that you read on http://ourparkinsonsplace.blogspot.comto a third party, as that third party may not have read this disclaimer and understood the caveats involved in receiving the information.

If you should repeat the medical information that you read on http://ourparkinsonsplace.blogspot.comto a third party, whether through writing, electronically, or orally, you agree that you will indemnify us and defend us against any claims for damages by that or any other third party which received its information as a result of your actions, either in whole or in part. In other words, if the third party you told the information to repeats it to another third party, you must indemnify us and defend us against claims made by either of those third parties.